


Coping Mechanisms

by fizzyshizz



Category: Heathers (1988), Heathers: The Musical - Murphy & O'Keefe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Children, F/F, F/M, Future Fic, Hes still alive, How Do I Tag, JD survives, M/M, Non canon kids, Veronica has kids with JD, i guess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-04-19 02:47:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14227419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fizzyshizz/pseuds/fizzyshizz
Summary: After the events of Veronica Sawyer’s senior year, she’s tried to put her dark past behind her and live a normal life away from Sherwood, but when her work takes her home again, she begins to find the past is haunting her. As the bodies pile up, she will work tirelessly to figure out what's going on... If she can balance that and being a mother to twins.ON HIATUS





	1. Guess Who’s Back?

**Author's Note:**

> FIRST FIC!! For Heathers too. I'll update when I can ,but I'm bad with schedules. Maybe once a month.. 
> 
> This fic came from a friends idea. I don't like creating canon characters' kids, but I'm making an exception..

It had been two hours in the car and Veronica was going slowly crazy. The loud noise, stress of a new place and her father’s sickly condition was finally getting to her. She was sore in every body part and tired of looking at the road. The familiar sign of “Welcome to Sherwood, Ohio” flashed past on her left and the whooping from the backseat reinforced her throbbing headache. She was going home for the first time in 17 years and she was actually somewhat excited to be back to the home of hell on Earth, Westerburg High.

The car creaked underneath her as she flew past forest and hills. She briefly wondered if a certain guy with mad ice-blue eyes in a ratty trench coat always felt this way when he moved, ready to start again, but she knew he didn’t. She looked back at the two people behind her, arguing loudly. Her twins, August and Heather, named after the month she was born in and a dead girl in a floral kimono. They were in the middle of arguing with Heather’s eyes shining passionately and August countering everything a passionate Heather said with calm assurance.

She looked away quickly having too many flashbacks to hiding in the closet while his passionate, wavering voice yelled at her to open the door. She knew that she would never escape what had happened to her during her senior year of high school, but heading home made these memories flare up more. She wondered if that’s why she decided to move back home, her writer’s block needing to be broken by pain and misery. She thought again of the guy with curly, dark hair and the bright, cherry-red slushy he often downed in seconds, stating that freezing his brain was better than dealing with his issues. As she passed by a house with her kids still fighting over… something, she wasn’t sure what. She again dove into the memories of pain looking for inspiration. The voice of a girl echoed in her ear, “Watch the road, sweetheart.”

The image of the girl made her thoughts spiral downwards, flashing past the rush of slushie, pain of death and the heat of flames, blocking out sounds and the sound of gravel smashing on her tires. Her descent was broken by more sounds of arguing behind her and someone yelling her name in the backseat. “MOM!” screamed one of her kids, “Watch the road!”

Shaken out of her dark thoughts, Veronica quickly slammed on her breaks. The car lurched forward and she watched another car drive by honking. Her son and daughter both blinked and then August spoke, his voice echoing in the empty space,”I’m hungry” Veronica sighed and loudly took a moment to breathe, in and out, and then respond, “Sorry, sweetheart, we’ll eat when we get to our new home, alright?”

Her teenage son’s exaggerated pouty face emerged from behind her. “C’mon, Mom,” He said, his face contorting to achieve the same puppy-dog eyes that always won her over when he was younger.

He looked like her. He had her gray soft eyes and brown, slightly wavy hair, but had his father’s nose and height. Besides him, his sister sighed with her icy eyes, dark curly hair and olive skin. She looked a lot like her father, which scared Veronica way more than she liked to admit. Veronica rolled her eyes with a flourish, but pulled into the place her son was pointing to. As her kids jumped out of the car with a kind of teenage joy, she took the time to look up at the sign above her and ice filled her, freezing her in her place. “Wow,” whispered a familiar snotty voice in her ear, “ I thought you hated this place.” 

Veronica glowered at the ghost, brushing her off.The ghost’s blonde hair flowed as she smirked at Veronica. Heather’s dead eyes’ only glow came from above.The glowing neon of the 7-11 sign mocked her as she forced herself to walk towards her former lover’s paradise. Her kids scattered once inside, but she took her time looking at the clean, untouched walls that her lover had taken refuge in. Her heart stopped when she realized the 7-11 remained the same, down to the altar of slush that she first spoke to him at. Panic filled her as his icy-dark eyes swam into her vision. His voice spoke to her, whispering the dreaded phrase she only heard in her nightmares. His eyes got closer and the smell of cherry slushies and cigarette smoke drifted around her.She could feel his calloused hands on her back. His hoarse, husky voice got louder and louder until his desperate, insane proclamation filled her ears.

“Our love is god.Our love is god.Our love is god.Our love is god.Our love is god.Our love is god.Our love is god.Our love is god.Our love is god.Our love is god.Our love is god.Our love is god.Our love is god.Our love is god.Our love is god.Our love is god.”

Then a new voice entered her ears as the glowing, mad eyes got closer.

“MOM? MOM?! MOM!”

She snapped back to reality as Heather stood in front of her, worry in her voice and his eyes filled with concern, staring at her as if he was here, haunting her just like the three ghosts that followed her around, laughing at every mistake.

“I’m fine, sweetheart,” she said, cringing at her voice as she said it.

“Are you sure?” Her daughter asked. Veronica blinked,hating the concern in Heather’s voice. 

“You’ve seemed really um.. out of it since we got to Sherwood,” Heather told her. 

“Really?” Veronica replied nonchalantly, acting as if nothing was wrong. This seemed to fool her daughter, who nodded at her and moved away towards the frozen treats aisle. The ghosts all laughed at her misery, their voices reverberating through the room.

“Awwww..”said one of the guys, laughter in his voice, “You miss your bbbooooyyyffffrrriiieeennnddd.” He stretched the last word out, mocking her terror at his presence. 

Veronica sighed, ignoring them. She walked over to the junk food and grabbed a giant pack of Doritos. The ghosts followed her teasing her and pointing out random things in the store that interested them. Her kids stood at the register, talking about something, which they shut up about as she walked over to them. She smiled at the woman behind the counter and swiped her card, taking her food and heading back to her blue car with her kids following, chattering.

As she loaded into the car, she looked back at the 7-11, contemplating and then turned her back on it and toward the car and her future

…

As the blue car turned onto the road, someone stepped out of the bathroom they were hiding in. Their expression was of someone who’d found something they’d been looking for. Their curly dark hair fell into their eyes and in their calloused hands was a Blue Raspberry Slushie. They wore a ratty black trenchcoat and worn jeans. Their eyes glowed with a ethereal madness and passion and their olive-toned skin was covered in scars. Ice-blue eyes blinked once, twice. 

“Holy shit,” whispered the voice of Jason Dean.


	2. Addicted to a Memory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Each chapter title is a song. The first on is "Guess Who's Back" by Eminem. This one is "Addicted to a Memory" by ZEDD.
> 
> A lot of this chapter is based on speculation and headcannons by yours truly. I thought that both JD and Heather Duke needed to be a little more sane and both need a lot of mental help so I gave them each other. IF you would like to see their relationship as romantic you can, but that is not intended by me.

Smoke billowed from his nose as the sound of cars echoed to his right. He was distracted, not caring about his surroundings at all, more focused on the woman he had seen in the 7-11. She had stared at the slushy machine, sweat on her face and tears in her eyes. He closed his eyes, a throbbing pain in his forehead. Massaging his forehead, he watched people walk by, smiling, unaware of the pain of others. His mind managed to go back to the brown-haired woman in the 7-11. HE had caused her this pain. It was HIS fault.   
He brushed his thoughts aside as he walked to his private investigator’s office. His office was small and dinky but he did decent work from it. He walked up the stairs to the door and then opened it with a creak. His office was one of his only safe-places in Sherwood. The room was cluttered and homey. He let out a small smile before walking to his worn desk and plopping down. Pushing aside the piles of paper, he stared at the dart board on the opposite wall. 

Veronica. Veronica Sawyer is back in Sherwood, Ohio. He breathed another puff from his cigarette. She had two kids with her. Another inhale. Smoke curled upwards and touched the ceiling. He smiled. Good for her. She’d moved on, while he was stuck in some sort of post-Veronica syndrome. Another smoke. A sharp intake of breath as he realized something and ended up choking on his own smoke. After a couple of seconds of choking he went back to his pondering, grabbing a stress ball on his desk shaped like a bomb, squeezing the life out of it. Veronica wasn’t over him. She hadn’t remarried. There was no guy with her. He blinked, his mind skimming over her kids and wondering who their father was. It didn’t matter to him very much, he told himself pushing it away.

The events of 1989 were always there. Reminding him of his worst moments and probably Veronica’s too. He stood up, his decision made, he wasn't going to interact with Veronica or her kids. He grabbed a yellow colored dart and threw it at the board, smirking to himself as he hit dead center. He turned to the papers now scattered all over the floor and picked one up, thinking back to that last day in senior year.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

His first thought was, “Am I dead?” His second was “No, the afterlife wouldn’t hurt this much.” His left arm hurt like a flaming hot rod was being slowly stabbed through his arm and then pulled out again. He looked down at it, stared for a couple seconds and then turned away, unable to look at the mangled mess. He then looked around his surroundings, finding that he was in the woods behind the school. “Huh, how about that?” he said aloud and then paused, his voice sounding strange to his ears, almost more blurry.

He pulled himself up. The gunshot wound from Veronica throbbed. “Oh god, VERONICA” he thought. He attempted to stand and collapsed from the pain, panting. The ends of his vision blurred and he desperately tried to hold onto consciousness, but fell back into a dreamless slumber.

When he woke, the sun flared into his face. He blinked and then attempted to stand up again, wondering how long he’d been there. Pleasure split his face when he stood up with no help and then started towards a road about a mile to his left.

He was picked up by a nice man with some stereotypical American name, Bob, Joe. The hospital was about two hours away and he spent a majority of that time, planning his revenge on Veronica and Westerburg. 

The doctors were shocked he lived.He heard those words multiple times a day. He was told about a loss in his hearing and the doctors handed him hearing aids,his second day there. His arm had also had to be amputated, Thankfully he still had his elbow, which meant he could bend his arm still. He also had a therapist come in and interview him, not that it mattered.   
His first visitor was the last person he expected. Duke. “Hey” she said as she came in, with a weirdly serious look on her petite face. 

“Greetings and salutations,” he said with his usual greeting and swagger.

She frowned at him and then spoke, fury in her voice.” What did you do to Veronica?”

“What?” 

“You heard me.”

“Nothing, we broke up.” he admitted, wondering how much Veronica had told Heather.

“She’s basically lost it, She thinks you are dead.” Duke replied.

He stared at her, “Well I’m not” He said, now angry, “Why haven’t you told her?”

“Because the therapist tests say you are not sane.” She adjusted her stance.

“Oh”

“YEA, Oh” She glared at him, “So my family will help you.”

“What?” Confusion filled him.

“You need help. Your father was called, but he doesn’t want to help you. We are friends and my parents have took over custody of you. Especially since there is a massive indication that you were abused.”

He managed a glare,hiding his true feelings of shock that someone cared enough to find out about that. “And why is your heart suddenly so pure?”

She smiled grimly. “I’m not a monster.”

He laughed at that. “What are you even doing with me?”

She smiled again more genuinely, “We are going to help you”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

He left his office with an air of a strange kind of joy. Climbing up on his motorbike, he set off down the street with a air of purpose, arriving at a blue house with white trim. Walking up to the door,he was surprised to find the door already unlocked. Smirking, he walked into the house to find a familiar face on his couch. 

Curled up there was the Green Queen herself, Heather Duke, with a warm smile on her face and a bottle of wine in her hand. 

“Hey Duchess.” He said, stealing the bottle from her.

“HEY!” She protested, laughter in her voice, swiping it back, “I’m supposed to keep you away from alcohol!”

“Like that ever stopped you before.” he admonished her.

She poured two glasses with a flourish, “You’re right.”

He paused in his laughter, “Veronica’s back in town.”

“Seriously!!” She said, surprise in her voice.

“Yep,I saw her at 7-11 today.” He spoke with distance in the his voice, like he was somewhere else.

“You should go talk to her.” Heather said taking a sip of the wine and making a face as the drink touched her lips.

“Nah,” He stated as Heather stared at him in shock.

“Jason,” She stammered, “Are you avoiding her?’

“I’ve caused her enough pain”

Heather had a look like she wanted to slap him, which made him laugh.

He took out a cigarette, with laughter in his voice,” She doesn’t want to see me.”

“She would want to see you,” Heather protested.

He shook his head,puffing out smoke, “Nah” 

He turned to Heather, menace in his voice, “And if you tell her…” He left the threat in the air.

Heather laughed nervously, “Ok” She looked at his cigarette with distaste. “That’s horrible for you.”

“Like I give a shit.” He responded.

She laughed at that, “Ok, if you want lung cancer.”

He rolled his eyes, “How’s Marin?”

It was an obvious ploy to change the subject, but she took it, launching into a talk about her kid and for that he was grateful. He nodded politely but his mind was miles elsewhere hiding behind the door, staring at the woman he loved.


	3. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Song: Home by Phillip Phillips
> 
> My hype for Infinity War is helping me write faster, I think. Or its one of my friends being her pushy self telling me that I SHOULD UPDATE.
> 
>  
> 
> I have a lot of plans for the Mcnamara/Conolly kids.

Her new home was cozier than Heather expected. Not the same as Oklahoma, but cozy. Her room was smaller here, not big enough for all her things,making the room cluttered and messy. She loved messy things. Rolling out of bed, she smacked her dry lips together and stared at herself in the reflection. Her dark, curly hair was a mess, splattered on her face like ink drops. She took her time combing her hair, wondering who in her family she looked like. Probably her mysterious father that her mom would never talk about. She rolled her icy eyes at her own reflection, laughing, and then pulled her CD player out of the box next to her dresser, putting in “One of The Boys” by Katy Perry and dancing around her room singing the songs at the top of her lungs. After she pulled on her fringed boots and leggings, she danced out of her room, just to run into her brother at the end of the hall.

August had a brotherly fury in his eyes. He glared at her, his gaze weirdly warm for someone supposed to be angry.

“Why,” was all he said.

She immediately got what he was talking about and let loose a wild grin. “Because I like her album” she giggled.

“It’s going to be stuck in my head all day” he complained, getting out of her way as she sashayed down the hall, with him following.

“Hey” he said, his voice portraying his nervousness. “Is Mom ok?”

She scoffed, stopped and thought for a second before she answered, “She kind of had a breakdown in that 7-11 yesterday.”

He nodded, his hair bouncing up and down earnestly, “ I wanted to ask you about that. What happened?”

She shrugged, “I don't know, Maybe she’s scared of slushy machines?”

He managed a laugh without humor, “Maybe.”

Their conversation was interrupted by their mother downstairs calling for them to come downstairs. They looked at each other, deciding unanimously to not speak of this in front of their mother. Heather led the way downstairs with August following behind. Veronica stood in the kitchen grinning.

“Hey, kids! I burned breakfast! Who wants Mcdonalds?” Veronica said in one breath. After she spoke Heather became aware of the smell of something burning in the house. She bit back a laugh at her mother’s terrible cooking. “Sure” she said.

It took them about five minutes to get into the car, with August calling shotgun. She didn't mind, it would give her time to think. She stared her mother down, looking for a connection, something she’d been doing a lot lately. Ever since she was little, she had always wondered if she was actually part of her own family. She didn’t look anything like her mother or brother. She had once asked Veronica if she was adopted, gaining a laugh from her mother as she ruffled Heather’s hair. So she held onto these secret doubts, of not belonging. Her mother had once said that Heather looked more like her father, but whenever she asked Veronica about him, she’d either freeze up or her eyes would go misty, lost in memories.

August and her had been trying to get their father’s identity out of her mother since they were small. They knew some details, like how he’d knocked up Veronica in their senior year, Heather apparently looked like him and their godmother Martha had said he was a rebellious kid. After Martha had said that Veronica had glared at her, shutting their godmother up quickly. Heather and August had pressed Martha hard, but Veronica’s wrath was too be feared and she didn’t let up. Heather wondered what happened between her mother and father for Veronica to hate him so much.

Sometimes she got the feeling Veronica didn’t hate her father though. Like when her eyes went all misty while thinking about him.

The sound of a car door slamming shook her out of her pondering. She turned to see her brother and mom out of the car. She followed suit, slamming her car door with and extra push. Her mother shook her head smiling and they walked into McDonalds. Her mom immediately went to the line. Heather and August hung back.

“Do you think this has something to do with our John Doe of a dad?” August stated automatically

She sighed, “Maybe, but I’m not sure.” Their mother had told them that Sherwood, Ohio was a place of memories for her, good and bad. That’s why they were moving back there to help Veronica get out of her writer's block.

August spoke up, “If it was important, wouldn’t she talk about it?” 

Heather stifled a laugh,”NO, That makes it more important to find out.”

August argued back, “We are her family, I think she would tell us if it was something dire.”

Heather stared at him, searching for the right words. As she did this a four-person family entered the building. The short, slightly chunky blonde woman saw Veronica and her eyes lit up.She moved surprisingly fast and barreled toward Veronica like a bull. She gave her a hug from behind, while her family followed amused.

“HEY,VERONICAITSMEHEATHERHOWHAVEYOUBEENARETHOSEYOURKIDS?” The woman said in one loud exclamation.

Heather and August watched startled, while their mother turned around.

“Hey, Heather!” Veronica wrapped the woman in a bear hug. 

Heather and August looked at each other, confusion in their faces.

The woman saw them and her face lit up again,” Oh wow, Veronica, Are these your kids? They look just like Ja-” she was interrupted by Veronica.

“You have kids too?” their mother asked.

“Of course,” The blonde woman, now identified as Heather, replied, “These are my girls, Beth and Asha.”

The two people behind her gave slight waves. Beth was a great combination of Heather and the man, who was obviously her husband. Beth had brown freckles across her face, with dirty blond curly hair that bounced around her shoulders, her hazel eyes complimented her face perfectly.

Asha stood out from her family. Her curly, fluffy hair fell long down her back. Her caramel-colored skin glowed in the false lights of the Mcdonalds. Her eyes were dark and playful.

Heather beamed as she grabbed her daughter and walked them over to Heather and August. Both girls looked slightly uncomfortable, but greeted the Sawyer twins warmly.

“Our mom said that your mom was a linda legend at Westerburg High as a senior.” Beth said, bouncing up and down.

“Really?” Heather said. She and August looked at each other.

“Oh yes.” said Asha, her voice with a strange sarcastic edge to it. Her eyes sparkled.

“She never told us about that.” August replied.

Beth nodded so fast her hair flew everywhere. “Yea. Our mom said that Veronica helped her run the school, after their friend commited suicide.”

Heather had heard the story of the friend that she was named after. She smiled, “What grade are you two in?” 

Beth beamed, “We are freshman!!” she said excitedly. Asha nodded agreement.

Heather smiled at them while August went up with her mother to order.

Asha stared at her intensely, causing Heather to move away from her. Beth was blabbing on and on about teachers. Heather tried to listen but was pretty bored so she started looking around, finding the Mcdonalds to be weirdly similar to the one in Oklahoma. Her mom’s voice broke through her thought, “Heather, we are leaving.”

She looked up to see that the Collonys were ordering and her family was about to leave.Veronica smiled at her. She shakily nodded, missing the dark haired man in the corner look up from his newspaper.

As they left to head to Heather’s new school, she worried and fretted about her image until Veronica told her to calm down. August gave her a smile as they jumped out of the car together, toward the so-called hell that was Westerburg High.


	4. Silver Lining

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO SORRY< BETWEEN INFINITY WAR< BENDY< STEVEN UNIVERSE< AND THE BURNING MAZE I'VE BEEN REALLY DISTRACTED.I love you guys and I'm very sorry.

August didn't know what he was expecting but it wasn't this. The bubbly cheerleader bounced in his face, waving her pom-poms in his face, proclaiming a welcome to the school. He gave her a patient smile, but quickly started looking for Heather. His sister always knew what to do in these situations. His twin had her back too him and was talking to a small, futile girl wearing a big sweater. The cheerleader waved her white and red pom-poms around. 

“Welcome to our school! I’m Leslie Harper!” The blonde girls said. 

“Hi,” he replied and then made a shoving gesture with his hands, “Can you…?”

He didn’t finish his sentence when she go the message. “OOPS, Sorry!” He breathed a sigh of relief as she backed off.

“So,” He asked trying to make small talk, “What’s your first period?” 

She beamed,”Miss Manago,History.”

He looked at his schedule and sighed,”Same.”

She smiled again ,stretching her already wide face even wider, “GREAT I'LL SHOW YOU THE WAY”

...  
Lunch arrived faster than he thought. Hanging out with Leslie was actually fun, even if he forgot her friend’s names. A tall African kid was next to him, so August attempted small talk. 

“So,what do you like to do?” God, that sounded awkward even if he didnt know the kid. The kid laughed, ”Golf,” he replied, “People say its boring but I like it. How about you?”

August relaxed a bit. “Oh I like swim and hockey.” 

“Cool” the kid replied. His name randomly came to August, Will.

“So, Will. What are you doing after school?” He asked. Will smiled, “ We always go to the 7-11, two blacks over.”

“Really? That sounds really fun!” he said, cringing at how peppy his voice sounded. Two other kids looked over from where Leslie was, “You coming to 7-11?” One asked, his curly hair bobbing. 

“Sure,” he replied with a smile. 

He looked around an managed to catch Heather’s eye across the room. She raised an eyebrow at him. He wiggled his back. She rolled her eyes and began talking to the girl she was sitting next to.

“Hey, you know that girl?” said the curly haired dude. 

“Yes, she's my twin sister.” He replied, suspicion lacing his words.

“She’s pretty hot,” was the response and August took a minute to comprehend that. Hot. Sister. His sister. Hot. He stifled a laugh.

Leslie rolled her eyes,” She’s not that attractive.” August as then filled with the urge to defend Heather. 

“What’s her name?” the dude next to Curly Hair spoke.

“Heather.” 

“Like the girl who died?”

“WHAT?”

“Oh yea,” said Curly Hair.

August was stricken,” How did she die?”

“Suicide,” Leslie sounded bored, “It’s our schools big fame claim. Four suicides in one year and one attempted.In 1989.”

“1989” he said,thinking. His mom’s senior year. The year she got pregnant. Suspicious. His mom had always said that her senior year was hell, but he hadn’t expected actual death.

Curly Hair spoke, “Yea, they named building after the students that died. It’s kinda sweet but, not really compensation, ya know?”

“Yea,” his eyes connected with Heather across the room again,” I know.”

...

 

The 7-11 was the same one he’d gone yesterday.Will, Leslie and the two other guys walked in like they owned the place,but he stayed in the back, his mom’s strange breakdown in his mind clearly. That’s why he didn’t notice the guy in front of him until it was too late.

He bumped into the older man. Thankfully, the guy didn’t seem too mad, just surprised. 

“I’m so sorry.”He said for the hundredth time. The guy chuckled again, humor lighting up his icy blue eyes.  
“It's fine.” The other guys replied,with a bright smile. “Say you look familiar.”

Oh, August thought, He must know my mom. “Yea,A lot of people have said that today,I’m Veronica Sawyer’s kid.”

The man stared, “Veronica had a kid? Wow, that’s really odd.”

“Why?” August could get the weird feeling out of his head that he’d seen this dark-haired man before.

The guy laughed again, “ I don't know, I just can’t see her with kids. Is she still a little fireball?”

August smiled as he thought of his mom, “Pretty much.”

The guy laughed again, shifting his red slushie to the other hand, “Well, tell your mom I said HI.” He then left, smiling to himself, like there was a joke that August didn’t get yet.”

August smiled as he watched the guy go and then realized, SHIT, I DIDN'T GET HIS NAME.


End file.
